Editing Food distribution (section)

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{{Globalize|date=April 2020|2=}}[[File:20150916-OSEC-LSC-0155 (21629244322).jpg|thumb|A man using a [[forklift]] to unload [[carrots]] from a [[Refrigerator truck|refrigerated truck]] at a warehouse in [[Long Island City, New York]]]]
'''Food distribution''' is the process where a general population is supplied with food. The [[Food and Agriculture Organization]] (FAO) considers food distribution as a subset of the [[Food systems|food system]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/W0078e/w0078e04.htm|title=Chapter 3 - The food system and factors affecting household food security and nutrition|date=2016|website=www.fao.org|publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations|access-date=2016-10-27}}</ref> The process and [[methodology]] behind food distribution varies by location. Food distribution has been a defining characteristic of [[human behavior]] in all societies, and recordings of food distribution date back for thousands of years. Most governments and societies are highly shaped by the systems created to support food distribution. 

There are a multitude of risk factors that can affect food distribution. War, [[Economy|economic failure]], [[Politics|political problems]], and weather conditions all play a role in determining the efficiency of any food system.<ref name=":0" /> Two recent examples of war and [[Economy|economic failure]] impacting food distribution includes the decline of food distribution in [[Empire of Japan|Japan during World War II]] and food [[recession]] in [[Sub-Saharan Africa]] during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In both cases, food distribution was hindered and the [[population]] in these areas consequently suffered.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=World Recession and the Food Crisis in Africa|last=Lawrence|first=Peter|publisher=James Currey|year=1986|isbn=0-85255-309-9|location=London|pages=6–7}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=Japanese Food Management in World War II|last=Johnston|first=B. F.|publisher=Stanford University Press|others=Mosaburo Hosoda and Yoshio Kusumi|year=1953|location=Stanford|pages=45–49, 166–170, 202–204|lccn=53-7894}}</ref>

Special organizations exist today to prevent any total collapses in food distribution, assist in developing food distribution and food systems in underdeveloped areas, and respond to food distribution crises. At the international level, the [[Food and Agriculture Organization]] (FAO) plays a key role in facilitating the growth of food distribution systems all over the world.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|url=http://www.fao.org/about/what-we-do/so1/en/|title=What we do|date=2016|website=www.fao.org|publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations|access-date=2016-10-25|archive-date=2018-10-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181022213108/http://www.fao.org/about/what-we-do/so1/en/|url-status=dead}}</ref> At the national level different countries have developed more complex support systems; by example, a mixture of federal, [[Nonprofit organization|non-profit]], and volunteer organizations function in the United States to safeguard the well-being of the US food distribution system.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|last1=Statler|first1=Matthew|title=Encyclopedia of Disaster Relief|last2=Penuel|first2=Bradley|publisher=SAGE Publications|year=2011|isbn=978-1-4129-7101-0|location=United States of America|pages=225–228}}</ref> Within the United States, there is an issue of food insecurity where food distribution is one of the key solutions to target food insecurity. This creates a "food bank industry" where many organizations use tactics of business and trade skills within the food distribution sector to give food to communities that are in need.<ref name=":11">{{Cite journal|last1=Mook|first1=Laurie|last2=Murdock|first2=Alex|last3=Gundersen|first3=Craig|date=2020-10-01|title=Food Banking and Food Insecurity in High-Income Countries|journal=VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations|language=en|volume=31|issue=5|pages=833–840|doi=10.1007/s11266-020-00219-4|s2cid=216178423|issn=1573-7888|doi-access=free}}</ref>